The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and U.S. Coral Reef Task Force partners are improving
coral reef conservation efforts from federal to local levels according
to a new report released today.

The report, “Implementation of
the National Coral Reef Action Strategy: Report on U.S. Coral Reef
Agency Activities from 2002 to 2003” highlights the activities
of USCRTF members and partners in 2002 –2003 under each of 13
national conservation goals defined by the 2002 U.S. National Coral
Reef Action Strategy. The report also charts annual funding by federal
agencies for activities directly related to implementation of the
strategy, and presents an analysis of the future challenges facing
coral reef ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.

The report indicates that collective
research and management actions are moving in the right direction.
New coral reef monitoring activities are now being conducted in all
14 jurisdictions throughout U.S. waters yielding important data about
water quality, corals, fish and other species that depend on coral
ecosystems.

Efforts to produce comprehensive digital
maps of all shallow coral reef ecosystems by 2009 are well underway.
U.S. shallow coral reef ecosystems mapped and characterized increased
from 35 to 66 percent (9,598 square kilometers) from 2002 to 2004.

The U.S. National Coral Reef Action Strategy
also calls for improving the use of coral reef protected areas and
other tools for effective coral reef conservation. Fourteen new coral
reef-protected areas were established in federal waters and several
jurisdictions, including the U.S. Virgin Islands, Hawai’i, Puerto
Rico, Florida, and American Samoa.

USCRTF partners created new protected
area management plans and increased local management capacity for
enforcement and education efforts. NOAA, working with state and territory
partners, is leading the first comprehensive, nationwide inventory
and assessment of all U.S. coral reef protected areas to identify
key needs and solutions.

Since 2002, five of the seven U.S. states
or territories with coral reefs have instituted new or revised fishery
regulations to help restore and sustain coral reef fisheries. NOAA,
the United States Geological Survey, and academic partners are also
mapping priority moderate-depth coral reef ecosystems identified by
regional fishery management councils as important habitat for many
commercial fish species.

To translate national priorities into
locally-driven roadmaps for cooperative conservation, each of the
seven states and territory members of the USCRTF developed three-year
local action strategies. These local action strategies prioritize
actions needed by federal, state, territory, and nongovernmental partners
to reduce key threats to reefs, and were developed with the input
of hundreds of stakeholders. In recognition of the importance of this
participatory planning and management process, the President’s
Ocean Action Plan called for $2.7 million in new NOAA funding to support
implementation of the local strategies.

Although NOAA and USCRTF members and
partners made significant progress on all 13 goals in 2002 and 2003,
the report indicates that additional efforts are needed to reduce
the serious threats to reefs and rebuild healthy, resilient coral
reef ecosystems.

“By
leveraging funds and resources, exchanging ideas, and seizing opportunities,
we have begun the long process of reducing threats to reefs and conserving
healthy, resilient coral reef ecosystems and the human communities
that depend on them,” said Timothy
R. E. Keeney, deputy assistant secretary for oceans and atmosphere
and U.S. Coral Reef Task Force co-chair.

“The
information in this report, and in the recently-released “State
of the Reefs” report, provides clear evidence to Congress and
the public that we are making progress in conserving our coral reefs,”
stated Craig Manson, assistant secretary of the interior for fish
and wildlife and parks and co-chair of the Coral Reef Task Force.
“This is particularly impressive since results of our largest
initiative, the Local Action Strategies, are too recent to be included
here. Future reports will show that this cooperative, locally-based
effort is generating even greater progress.”

The
report was compiled by NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program
with input and assistance from the federal, state and territory members
of the USCRTF. The NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program supports effective
management and sound science to preserve, sustain and restore valuable
coral reef ecosystems. The CRCP is a partnership between NOAA offices
working on coral reef issues, including the National Ocean Service,
NOAA Fisheries, NOAA Research and NOAA Satellites and Information
Service.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is dedicated
to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction
and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental
stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources. Through
the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA
is working with our federal partners and nearly 60 countries to develop
a global Earth observation network that is as integrated as the planet
it observes.